J 

The  Library  Adventures 
of  Bob  and  Elizabeth 


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■ y 


The  Library  Adventures 
of  Bob  and  Elizabeth 


Marie  Louise  Prevost,  Assistant  Librarian 
Free  Public  Library,  Elizabeth,  N.  J. 


The  H.  W.  Wilson  Company 
White  Plains,  New  York,  1915 


The  Library  Adventures 
of  Bob  and  Elizabeth 


\-L 


Pooh !”  said  Bob.  “It  doesn’t.” 

“But  sister  said  the  lady  said  it  did,”  re- 
^ turned  Elizabeth  staunchly. 

O “Dare  me  to  find  out?”  queried  Bob. 

“Yes,”  laughed  Elizabeth,  and  across  the 
£ street  and  into  the  Library  building  dashed  the 
S two  cousins,  Bob  remembering  just  in  time  to 
pull  off  his  cap  as  they  entered  the  children’s 
room.  “Please,”  said  he  to  the  lady  who  was 
standing  near  the  desk,  “the  Library  doesn’t 
belong  to  us,  does  it?” 

“Why,  yes,”  said  the  lady,  “ if  you  live  here. 
It  belongs  to  everyone  living  in  town.”  Then 
noticing  Bob’s  puzzled  expression  she  added, 
“Just  as  your  home  belongs  to  you  and  to 
everyone  else  in  the  family  too.  You  know  the 
Library  is  just  a big  book  home  for  the  big 
family  that  all  the  citizens  make.” 

“And  that’s  the  reason  we  have  to  take  care 
of  the  books,  because  we  wouldn’t  like  it  if  our 
f*  brothers  and  sisters  broke  the  furniture  and 
j spoiled  the  garden,”  said  Elizabeth.  You  see 
2 her  sister  had  been  quite  enthusiastic  and  Eliza- 
-I  beth  had  a good  memory. 


The  lady  smiled  pleasantly.  “You  seem  to 
know  all  about  it  though  I don’t  remember 
your  being  here  before.” 

“No,  this  is  the  first  time  we’ve  come,”  re- 
plied Elizabeth,  and  Bob  added,  grinning,  “We 
thought  it  was  time  we  looked  after  our  prop- 
erty!” 

The  lady  saw  the  joke  and  smiled  back. 
Then  she  told  them  just  what  they  had  to  do  to 
get  their  cards  and  what  the  children’s  hours 
were  and  as  they  started  to  go,  for  it  was  nearly 
closing  time,  she  added,  “And  I hope  you  are 
going  to  get  well  acquainted  with  your  new 
property  very  soon.” 

“If  Elizabeth  has  anything  to  do  with  it,  I 
guess  we  will,”  said  Bob.  “She’s  always  been  a 
book-worm,”  and  they  both  laughed  softly  (as 
one  must  in  libraries)  and  ran  out  together. 
Bob  and  Elizabeth  had  always  been  chums. 

Sure  enough  it  was  Elizabeth  who  reached 
the  Library  first  on  the  following  day  though  it 
was  hardly  Bob’s  fault.  He  had  to  stop  and  see 
some  of  the  fellows  after  school  about  Satur- 
day’s ball  game  and  that  takes  time. 

Elizabeth  found  the  lady  in  the  children’s 
room  busier  than  she  had  been  the  day  before 
and  while  waiting  her  turn  to  speak  to  her  she 
watched  what  was  going  on  at  the  desk. 

First  there  was  a boy  who  was  getting 
books  for  his  teacher  to  use  in  school.  He 
brought  a note  and  when  the  lady  had  read  it 


she  said  that  one  of  the  books  was  out  but  as 
soon  as  it  came  in  she  would  let  Miss  Brown 
know  and  keep  it  for  her.  Elizabeth  wondered 
if  this  was  where  her  teacher  got  the  stories 
they  read  to  make  the  geography  lesson  so 
much  more  interesting  and,  later,  she  found 
out  that  it  was. 

Next  came  another  boy  who  wanted  to  see 
some  books  about  baseball  but  the  lady  could 
not  let  him  have  them  because  his  hands  were 
too  dirty.  He  had  forgotten  to  wash  them 
after  sliding  for  a base  on  the  diamond  so  he 
had  to  go  out  now  and  come  back  later  for  what 
he  wanted. 

After  that  came  an  older  girl  who  had  to 
pay  a fine  because  she  had  left  her  book  where 
the  baby  could  reach  and  tear  it.  The  lady 
said  it  would  take  half  an  hour  to  mend  it  and 
then  it  would  never  look  really  nice  again. 

And  last  in  line  before  Elizabeth  was  a 
little  girl  who  looked  as  though  she  had  been 
crying. 

She  said  she  had  lost  her  card  and  her  book 
had  been  due  day  before  yesterday  and  she  was 
afraid  to  bring  it  back  without  the  card.  Eliza- 
beth had  been  wondering  what  would  happen  if 
she  lost  her  card,  so  she  listened  with  interest. 

‘‘You  mustn’t  be  afraid  to  bring  a book 
back,  ever,”  the  lady  was  saying,  “because  you 
have  to  pay  a fine  for  every  day  you  keep  it 
overtime.  You’d  better  go  home  and  get  it.” 


“But  I haven’t  got  the  money  now,”  sobbed 
the  little  girl. 

“Never  mind,”  said  the  lady.  “Bring  the 
book  back  today  and  the  fine  will  not  grow  any 
bigger  if  you  don’t  pay  it  till  next  week  or  even 
next  year.  Run  home  now  for  the  book  and 
perhaps  if  you  look  a little  harder  you  may  find 
the  card.” 

Then  it  was  Elizabeth’s  turn  and  when  she 
had  gotten  her  card  the  lady  showed  her  how  to 
find  the  books  in  the  low  cases  along  the  walls. 
“Here,”  she  said,  “is  the  fiction,  the  make- 
believe,  made-up  stories.  They  are  put  on  the 
shelves  according  to  the  authors’  names,  like 
the  alphabet,  A’s  first,  B’s  next,  C’s  next  and  so 
on.  And  here  is  the  non-fiction,  as  we  call  the 
true  stories,  books  about  real  people  and  places, 
about  animals  and  birds  and  flowers  and  games 
and  pictures  and  how  to  make  things.” 

Elizabeth  was  fond  of  learning  pieces  to  re- 
cite so  she  thought  of  something  the  lady  had 
not  mentioned. 

“Which  is  poetry?”  she  asked. 

“I  don’t  wonder  you  ask,”  said  the  lady, 
“because  it  certainly  is  often  make-believe,  but 
we  put  it  with  the  non-fiction  over  here  and 
just  before  it  are  the  books  on  drawing  and 
painting.  If  you  like  pictures  you  will  love 
some  of  these  that  tell  of  beautiful  paintings  by 
the  great  artists.” 

Elizabeth  thought  she  would  like  them  but 


she  was  more  interested  in  the  poetry  just  now. 
“I  wish  I could  find  the  funny  piece  a girl  said 
in  school  the  other  day,”  she  said,  “but  I guess 
there’s  no  use  wishing  because  I don’t  know  its 
name.” 

“What  do  you  know  about  it?” 

“Just  that  it  begins:  ‘The  gingham  dog  and 
the  calico  cat  side  by  side  on  the  table  sat.’  ” 

“Oh,”  said  the  lady,  “that  is  easy  because  we 
have  a book  that  tells  us  what  thousands  of 
recitations  are  by  their  first  lines.  But  I hap- 
pen to  remember  this  one  without  looking.  It 
is  called  ‘The  Duel’  and  is  right  here  in  this 
book  by  Eugene  Field.” 

Then  the  lady  had  to  go  back  to  her  desk 
and  after  Elizabeth  had  read  the  poem  through 
she  went  back  to  the  shelves  to  find  something 
else. 

“Hullo,  Elizabeth!  What  are  you  looking 
for?” 

Elizabeth  turned  to  find  her  big  sister  stand- 
ing behind  her. 

“I  was  looking  to  see  if  they  have  ‘Little 
Women’  but  it’s  not  here  so  I guess  they 
haven’t.” 

“Oh  yes,  they  have!”  said  her  sister.  “It’s 
just  out,  probably.” 

“How  can  you  tell  that?”  asked  Elizabeth. 

“Well,  you  could  ask  the  lady  but  it’s  nicer 
to  find  out  for  yourself.  Come  here  and  I’ll 
show  you,”  and  they  walked  over  to  a case  full 


of  little  drawers  that  Elizabeth’s  sister  called 
the  catalog. 

“There  are  cards  in  here  for  all  the  books 
the  Library  owns.  The  cards  are  put  in  like 
the  alphabet,  A’s,  B’s,  C’s,  D’s ” 

“Just  like  the  story  books  over  there,”  inter- 
rupted Elizabeth. 

“Yes,  but  sometimes  there  are  three  cards 
for  one  book,  one  card  with  the  name  of  the 
book  first,  one  card  with  the  name  of  the  author 
first,  and  one  with  what  it’s  about  first.” 

“What’s  that  for?” 

“So  you  can  find  a book  if  you  only  know 
one  thing  about  it.  Suppose  you  didn’t  know 
who  wrote  ‘Little  Women’ — I’d  be  ashamed  of 
you  if  you  didn’t,  but  just  suppose — where 
would  you  ldok  for  it?” 

“In  the  drawer  that  has  the  L’s  in  it,  I 
guess,”  said  Elizabeth  and  she  looked  at  the 
little  labels  outside  the  drawers  and  read  the 
letters  on  them.  “A  to  B,  C to  D,  E to  I,  J to 
M,  J.  K.  L. — this  must  be  it,”  opened  the 
drawer,  turned  over  the  cards  till  she  came  to 
the  L’s  and  read : “ ‘Little  Sunshine’s  holiday,’ 
‘Little  travellers  around  the  world’ — here  it  is 
‘Little  women:  Alcott,  Louisa  May.’  Now  I 
know  the  author  and  can  find  the  book  over 
there  where  the  A’s  begin.” 

“And  suppose  you  wanted  some  more  books 
by  Miss  Alcott  but  didn’t  know  their  names?” 

“Oh,  I see  now !”  said  Elizabeth.  “I’d  go  to 


the  drawer  with  the  A’s  in  it,”  and  she  pulled  it 
out  as  she  spoke.  “Abbot — um  um — Alcott: 
Eight  cousins;  next  card,  Alcott:  Jo’s  boys; 
next  card,  Alcott:  Little  men;  Alcott:  Little 
women ; Alcott : Rose  in  bloom.  Why,  it’s 
ever  so  easy  when  you  know  how,  isn’t  it?” 

“Yes,  and  the  third  card’s  the  most  useful  of 
all  sometimes.  If  you  wanted  a book  about 
Christmas  but  didn’t  know  the  names  or  the 
writers  of  any,  the  catalog  would  find  that  for 
yop,  too.” 

Elizabeth  pulled  open  the  C drawer  and  sure 
enough  there  under  Christmas  was  card  after 
card  giving  the  names  of  books  about  that 
pleasant  time.  Crothers,  “Miss  Muffet’s  Christ- 
mas party”;  Dier,  “Children’s  book  of  Christ- 
mas”; Miller,  “Kristy’s  queer  Christmas”; 
Page,  “Captured  Santa  Claus,”  and  many  more. 

“It’s  just  like  a game,”  said  Elizabeth  and 
she  ran  off  to  practice  finding  as  she  called  it. 

Now  Bob  after  he  had  left  the  other  boys 
walked  on  down  to  the  Library  in  a somewhat 
bothered  frame  of  mind.  It  was  about  that  de- 
bate they  were  going  to  have  at  school,  the  first 
one  in  which  he  and  two  of  his  especial  friends 
had  ever  taken  part.  Father  had  promised  them 
a treat  if  their  side  won  but  Bob  was  very 
doubtful  of  their  doing  so.  Why  he  himself 
could  think  of  three  reasons  for  the  affirmative 
side  and  of  only  one  for  the  negative  side  which 
was  theirs. 


“It’s  mean  to  be  put  on  the  side  that  hasn’t 
any  reasons,”  he  said  to  himself.  “It  isn’t  fair !” 
and  he  pulled  open  the  Library  door  feeling 
rather  glum.  That  treat  of  Father’s  certainly 
did  look  miles  away ! 

The  lady  wasn’t  at  her  desk.  She  was 
standing  talking  to  another  boy  evidently  about 
a big  book  that  was  lying  open  on  a table. 
“No,”  she  was  saying  as  Bob  drew  nearer,  “an 
encyclopedia  is  different  from  a dictionary.  A 
dictionary  contains  all  the  single  words  in  the 
language.  It  tells  us  what  they  mean  and  how 
to  spell  them  and  what  other  words  and  lan- 
guages they  came  from.  But  an  encyclopedia 
tells  us  all  about  anything  we  want  to  know.  It 
is  just  thousands  of  little  stories  about  things 
and  events  and  places  and  people,  all  following 
after  one  another.” 

“No  wonder  it’s  a big  book!”  said  the  little 
boy. 

“Oh,  it’s  a great  many  volumes!”  said  the 
lady.  “This  one  came  from  that  shelf  where  the 
other  ones  in  the  same  binding  are.  You 
wanted  to  know  something  about  flying  ma- 
chines so  I got  the  volume  with  CIR-GAT  on 
the  back.  That  means  that  this  volume  starts 
with  the  words  that  begin  with  C-I-R  and  goes 
on  through  the  C’s  and  D’s  and  E’s  and  F’s  and 
G’s  as  far  as  the  words  beginning  with  G-A-T, 
and  we  were  looking  for  the  F’s  for  flying 
machines.” 


“Seems  like  everything  in  this  place  was 
’ranged  in  alphabetical  order,”  said  the  little 
boy. 

“Just  about,”  said  the  lady  smiling. 

Then  Bob  joined  in.  “Would  there  be  any- 
thing in  that  about  our  debate?”  he  asked. 

“Look  and  see,”  said  the  lady,  “and  if  you 
don’t  find  what  you  need  come  and  tell  me  and 
I’ll  show  you  where  else  to  look  for  your  sub- 
ject and  some  books  on  debating  too.” 

Ten  minutes  later  Bob  closed  the  big  volume 
feeling  a lot  more  cheerful. 

“Two  reasons  already,”  he  said  to  himself, 
“and  tomorrow  I’ll  ask  her  about  those  other 
books.  Gee,  this  is  something  like !”  and  he  got 
up  to  put  the  encyclopedia  back  on  the  shelf. 
As  he  did  so  a hand  grasped  his  shoulder,  a 
piece  of  paper  was  waved  under  his  nose  and  a 
voice  said  in  his  ear: 

“They  were  all  doing  the  same !” 

It  was  his  friend  Dick  who  was  also  on  the 
debating  (as  well  as  the  ball)  team.  Dick  was 
red-headed  and  merry  and  talked  about  a mile 
a minute,  so  Bob  did  not  have  to  ask  what  he 
had  been  doing.  He  went  right  on  without 
stopping. 

“I  came  in  and  asked  her  if  there  was  any- 
thing good  on  our  side  and  she  said  ‘Have  you 
tried  the  magazines?’  and  I said  it  wasn’t  in 
Saint  Nicholas  or  Something  to  Do  and  I didn’t 
know  what  others  to  try,  there  were  so  many  of 


them,  it  would  take  too  long.  And  she  said  “Oh, 
you  look  it  up  in  the  index  first!’  and  I said  to 
myself  ‘Lead  on,  madam,  you’ve  got  me!’  and 
she  did  lead  on  to  some  big  books  with  Readers’ 
Guide  on  the  outside  and  turned  the  pages  till 
she  struck  our  subject  and  showed  me  the  list 
of  magazine  articles  under  it.  I copied  the 
names  and  dates  of  four  of  them  on  this  paper 
and  you’ve  got  to  read  half.  She  said  I could 
find  the  articles  by  their  names  and  authors  too, 
but  the  subject  way  was  good  enough  for  me !” 

“Go  it!”  said  Bob,  grinning,  as  Dick  paused 
for  breath. 

“Sure  enough,  when  I’ve  got  a good  thing  to 
go  on!”  said  Dick,  “But  so  long,  now — and 
don’t  you  forget  you  have  to  read  two  of  them,” 
and  with  a parting  wave  of  his  paper  Dick  was 
gone. 

“There  seems  to  be  some  use  in  a Library, 
after  all,”  said  Bob  to  himself.  “I  thought  it 
was  only  books  to  read,  but  it’s  a regular 
question-answerer  instead.  Hullo ! There’s 
Elizabeth  over  there  in  that  corner,  glued  to  a 
book.  Bet  she  won’t  see  me  if  I get  one  myself 
and  sit  down  next  her.” 

Bob  looked  over  several  books,  decided  that 
“The  Master  of  the  Strong  Hearts”  and  “Mid- 
shipman Farragut”  looked  pretty  good,  carried 
them  over  to  Elizabeth’s  table  and  sat  down 
opposite  her  without  so  much  as  causing  her  to 
wink  an  eye-lash.  He  only  meant  to  sit  quiet  a 


few  moments  to  tease  her  but  almost  before  he 
knew  it  he  was  deep  in  the  adventures  of  Jack 
Huntington  and  his  Indian  friend,  Young  Wolf, 
for  “The  Master  of  the  Strong  Hearts”  is  a 
story  of  Custer’s  last  rally  and  is  as  full  of 
Indians  and  excitement  as  a boy  could  wish. 
For  about  three-quarters  of  an  hour  he  sat 
about  as  still  as  a boy  can  be,  not  paying  atten- 
tion to  anything  else.  Coming  by  that  time  to 
the  end  of  a particularly  thrilling  chapter,  he 
looked  up  to  make  Elizabeth  enjoy  it  with  him. 

“Gee,  Elizabeth,”  he  whispered,  “you  ought 
to  read  this;  he  wasn’t  a bit  afraid  of  that  big 
chief,  Sitting  Bull !” 

But  Elizabeth  did  not  hear,  for  she  was 
quite  lost  in  a story  that  began  by  showing  how 
all  little  girls  were  really  princesses  and  went 
on  to  tell  all  the  wonderful  and  interesting 
things  that  happened  in  “The  Princess  and  the 
Goblin”  to  one  little  princess  and  her  friend 
Curdie  in  the  goblin’s  palace  way  down  in  the 
under  world. 

Now  these  are  only  the  very  beginning  of 
the  Library  adventures  of  Bob  and  Elizabeth. 
They  are  still  going  on  and  piling  up  bright 
memories  at  the  rate  of  a new  one  every  time 
they  enter  the  Library  doors.  And  because 
every  good  thing  in  the  world  is  to  be  found 
and  learned  about  and  enjoyed  through  books, 
there  is  no  reason  why  these  happy  experiences 
should  not  go  on  all  their  lives  long. 


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